Francestown votes, but results are under wraps

Francestown voters may have cast their ballots for ConVal school district warrant articles on Tuesday, but the results will not be released until all other ConVal towns are able to vote.

Town Moderator Paul Lawrence said Francestown will withhold its school district results based upon a recommendation of Governor Chris Sununu and a letter sent throughout the towns in the ConVal School District.

"The letter from the ConVal school district gave the general feeling that they didn't want our vote to influence how other towns vote," said Lawrence, who said election results have been sent to the district.

ConVal Superintendent Kimberly Saunders said the district has not heard from all nine towns in the district at this time, but the ones who have reached out have said they will withhold the district portion of their results until all ConVal towns have voted. The last towns in the district to vote are Sharon and Greenfield on Friday.

“I think we can fully appreciate the towns’ desire to to hold onto results so everyone has a fair and equitable day at the polls,” said Saunders.

After hearing that towns were beginning to postpone their election days on Monday, the governor encouraged towns within cooperative school districts to work together and release results on school district issues in unison.

“We strongly encourage towns to coordinate with other towns that may be in their cooperative school district, as we understand that a lot of towns are voting together about school district issues. It would create a lot of confusion if some towns are voting on school issues and some towns are not,” said Sununu, following a phone call with local officials throughout the state on Monday afternoon.

Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District Robert Schaumann said that he has spoken to Rindge’s town clerk, who told him that the town will withhold school district results as to not sway the decision-making process of Jaffrey voters.

“I think this is the right thing to do to avoid any bias,” said Schaumann.

Both Wilton-Lyndeborough School District Superinten dent Bryan K. Lane and Wilton Town Moderator Bill Keefe are under the impression that Lyndeborough, which votes on Thursday, will hold results from the town’s school district votes until after Wilton concludes its voting on Tuesday, March 21.

The Mascenic Regional School District does not have any issues with having to hold votes as New Ipswich and Greenville both vote today (Thursday).